•THINGS WE LEARNED THIS MONTH…
RECENT HISTORY HEADLINES THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE
Dickens letters show awareness of fame
Correspondence recently acquired by the Charles Dickens Museum in London has given historians a fresh insight into the life and mind of the Victorian author, and suggests that he was well aware of the extent of his own fame. In one of the 11 handwritten letters, dated 10 February 1866, Dickens bemoans the withdrawal of the Sunday postal service in his Kent village of Higham. Referring to the volume of letters he sends and receives, he remarks: “I beg to say that I most decidedly and strongly object to the infliction of any such inconvenience upon myself.” The letters are now on display at the museum and online. Find out more at dickensmuseum.com.
Hyde Abbey dig points to existence of rumoured “water tunnel”
A community project to excavate land around Hyde Abbey in Winchester, Hampshire, has unearthed a medieval tunnel that may have supplied water to the building. The monastery once housed the remains of ninth-century king Alfred the Great, as well as his wife and son – although they were lost following the Dissolution. This find is the first evidence of the existence of such a cavern (seen above), which has long been rumoured to exist at Hyde Abbey, and it’s thought that it may have served the refectory, kitchen and infirmary.
Enormous prehistoric standing stone complex found in Spain
Archaeologists in southwestern Spain have discovered a huge Neolithic complex of standing stones that may be one of the largest ever found in Europe. A survey of the site, La Torre-La Janera near the city of Huelva, has revealed that it spans approximately 1,500 acres and features more than 500 stones, the oldest of which may have been erected in the sixth or fifth millennium BC. The megaliths are remarkably well preserved and appear to have been positioned in a wide range of formations, including tombs, circles, enclosures and mounds.
Medieval monks in Cambridge were plagued by parasites
While they may have devoted their lives to spiritual concerns, medieval monks also appear to have had a more earthly matter to contend with: they were riddled with parasitic worms. That’s the unsavoury conclusion of an analysis of several adult skeletons discovered in digs in Cambridge (above), which reveals that the friars were twice as likely to suffer from worms than the town’s non-holy residents. One possible cause for the intestinal affliction? A tendency to manure their vegetable gardens with human faeces.
£650,000
The price paid at auction for a black Ford Escort RS Turbo used by the late Diana, Princess of Wales during the 1980s
Droughts uncover host of Europe’s hidden historical treasures
The repeated heatwaves and ongoing droughts experienced this summer has been damaging to the environment and people of Europe, but low water levels have had another side effect: revealing usually hidden historical sights in the continent’s rivers and lakes. These include the sunken remains of World War II German battleships that emerged out of the Danube in Serbia, and what’s thought to be the ruined church of the village of Derwent in Derbyshire. In the 1940s, the area was flooded to create the Ladybower Reservoir.
